Born Unmeasured
by BloodyCrystal
Summary: 30 shorts set in the world of HS.  Ensemble cast.  "He lives in a land of wonder."
1. Family

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"Remember: as far as everyone else is concerned, we are a nice, normal family"-me**  
>Summary: <strong>On the raising, or lack thereof, of children destined to save the world.**  
>Character(s): <strong>John Egbert, Dad, Rose Lalonde, Mom, Dave Strider, Bro, Jade Harley, Grandfather, Beq**  
>Spoilers: <strong>Shouldn't really be any, unless you haven't read enough to know who all the humans are.

John's dad takes very good care of him. John has never wanted for anything, except maybe a mother, and even then he's never felt as if he needed one. Okay, so most people think his dad's a little crazy, but John knows the truth: his dad's just a big fan of pranks, same as him. So no worries there, or anywhere else. Yeah, John could do without the baked goods from the she-devil, but his dad buys the groceries, so if his dad likes Crocker, Crocker they will eat. John can live with that, even if he won't eat it.

John grows up laughing.

XXX

Rose knows her mother is insincere about everything. She doesn't quite know how long she's known this, but she knows that they are engaged in a silent contest of wills and, because her mother holds the advantage, her mother always wins. This struggle has taught Rose a lot and, ironically, prepared her for Sburb—constantly fighting someone who has the upper hand means that she is used to looking for ways around the rules, and so she is able to come up with her grand plan for destroying the game. In a way, she could almost be thankful to her mother for this, but now she will never have the chance to tell her something so simple as "thank you".

Rose fights Jack with the taste of regret in the back of her throat.

XXX

Dave's bro is the coolest. Everything he does is the essence of cool irony, and Dave wants to be just like him. He emulates his bro's sense of irony, learns rhymes and rhythms to share the sense of creating something cool, and fights with his sword until he can't stand up. Dave knows that some people think it's child abuse, or some shit like that, but he's always been good at helping his bro cover. He doesn't want to leave, after all, and They'll make him leave because They just _don't get_ how the brothers Strider work. It's odd and ironic and cool and not something for normal people.

Dave can't completely accept that the Alpha timeline requires his bro's death.

XXX

Jade grew up alone. Her grandfather died when she was very young due to an accident that she has recently learned is the fault of a troll. The only other living being on her island was Beq: good dog, best friend. She had her dreams of Prospit and Pester Chum to communicate with the others, but she had no _real_ human contact. It's why she wanted so badly for John to wake up on Prospit, why she hoped that Sburb would facilitate a real-life meeting, why she doesn't completely shun the trolls. She's had no one to teach her how humans interact. Jade doesn't know the million and more small details that most people pick up by watching the adults around them.

Jade learns how to be a member of society through Sburb.


	2. Regret

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"It's easy to claim nonassociation with your family. Doing it with yourself is a bit harder."-me**  
>Summary: <strong>Despite her best attempts, Vriska regrets.**  
>Character(s): <strong>Vriska Serket**  
>Spoilers: <strong>Through the majority of the reader's visit with Doc Scratch just to be safe, but not RECENT spoilers.  
><strong>Notes:<strong> Damn you, site, for not allowing me to use Vriska's typing quirk at the end of this. There should be eight exclamation marks.

Vriska had a lot of regrets. Sometimes, she couldn't believe how many had piled up so quickly.

She just did things in the heat of the moment, okay? Later on she realized that it had been a mistake, not that anyone seemed to accept it when she said she knew she'd been wrong. But how to make it up to the poor guy caught up in her schemes? Apologies wouldn't cut it, after all.

Vriska had learned early on that "sorry" was never going to be good enough. This meant that she did her best to never use the word. Not that anyone seemed to be willing to give her credit on that score anyways. Not her lusus, not Terezi, not Aradia, not even _Tavros_.

Okay, that was a lie. John was willing to give her credit. But she was careful to keep her temper under control when dealing with John. She didn't let her passions run away with her the way she had with everyone else.

But now Vriska was starting to wonder: when they met up with the humans, would John understand why she'd done what she did? Would he forgive her? Would he still be her friend?

Vriska hated this weakness that had come creeping out of nowhere to steal her confidence away. She should be at her best right now, with the confrontation with the demon coming.

All right, all right, so she'd just killed Tavros. But that wasn't really on purpose. Okay, it was a lot on purpose. But stupid Toreadork had been asking for it, attacking _her_ of all trolls! Really, what did he think was going to happen? A victory for him? Not likely! She had all the luck, all of it!

And now she was feeling a little _guilty_ about his death! Vriska frowned to herself. Was this because of John? Really, he was just a human! If he didn't like her, well, it wasn't like Vriska had ever needed anyone else's approval. She had managed without John before she'd met him, so she could do so again.

Still… If things had been different… Maybe if they'd all been humans without the end of the world looming over them…

But this was ridiculous! To shake off her odd thoughts, Vriska opened a chat with John. Trolling him always made her feel better, and she couldn't go off to the Great Final Battle in a bad mood.

**arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT]**

**AG: John!**


	3. Victory or Death

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"The simple ones aren't simple. The broken ones aren't broken."-Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson**  
>Summary: <strong>Tavros hordes his victories in preparation for his last failure.**  
>Character(s): <strong>Tavros Nitram**  
>Spoilers: <strong>Through a significant part of Act 5 Part 2, but if you're anywhere near current then none.**  
><strong>

Everyone writes Tavros off after the FLARP accident. He's confined to a wheelchair, after all, so there's no way he'll get a matesprit (although Vriska may be his kismesis). He'll be culled at adulthood or earlier, especially since he's just an orange-blood.

Or so everyone says; even the trolls Tavros considers frenemies.

But Tavros isn't culled. No blue-blood comes knocking to put him out of his misery, no purple-blooded Subjuggulator paints his hive walls with his blood, and no Imperial Drone ever comes knocking at his door. Admittedly, that last one is because of the game he and the other eleven play, but Tavros still counts it as a victory.

And then Tavros racks up points and boonbucks like no one other than Vriska. He doesn't get any levels because he befriends the monsters instead of killing them, but he's okay with that. And okay, so Vriska helps him get the treasure, but Tavros still did it. Not many of the others can say that they did as much as him, even if they all did quite a bit.

When Tavros realizes what Vriska is planning in regards to the demon, he knows he has to stop her. Well, he has to try. He's fairly certain he won't be able to beat her. She's the Light player, after all. But he has to do what he can, because no one else will.

Tavros suits up and goes to meet his death. After everything they have been through, the least he can do is try.


	4. Pride

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold."-Thomas Jefferson**  
>Summary: <strong>Terezi makes a decision.**  
>Character(s): <strong>Terezi Pyrope; light TerezixKarkat**  
>Spoilers: <strong>Through a significant part of Act 5 Part 2, albeit dealing with an alternate timeline event, but if you're anywhere near current then none, really. It's from nearer to the beginning of visiting Doc Scratch.**  
><strong>

Terezi watches Vriska fly away and clutches her dragon-headed cane tight in both hands. She stares at the blue blood's back, open and completely unguarded. She watches her perfect chance to strike drift farther and farther away. This one moment is her only chance to stop what she sees as inevitability, but… Despite everything, Terezi can't bring herself to do it.

She isn't sure what stays her hand. Affection for her "sister" has been gone since the Team Charge debacle. Persuasion has clearly already failed. Hope has been foreign since she realized how much blood was covering the station, counted the tastes and came up with an unhappy conclusion of rampant murder and mayhem. Acceptance of what is to come is what Aradia preached after her death, not something Terezi was ever interested in.

The only possible explanation is pride. Terezi can't take pride in beating Vriska by stabbing her in the back, and she so wants to boast when she finally takes Spidertroll down.

Terezi's pride in her work keeps her from stabbing her former "sister" in the back, and she watches the Thief of Light fly away before heading back down to find Karkat. His delicious candy blood wasn't spilled all over the hallways, so she knows the grumpy would-be leader is probably still around. She has to warn him.

She arrives in time to hear the demon stick his hand through Karkat's stomach. Her matesprit is dead. His candy red blood is spilling out everywhere, nothing hiding the freakish color anymore. She can't find it in her to resist when the demon turns his attention to her. She doesn't even go down fighting. She just accepts it as her due.

If there is a next time, Terezi vows with her dying gurgle to swallow the accursed pride that clings to the Sisters Scourge.


	5. Rage

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"Speak when you are angry-and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret."-Laurence J. Peter**  
>Summary:<strong> Rage and regret go hand in hand.**  
>Character(s): <strong>Karkat Vantas**  
>Spoilers: <strong>For Act 5 Part 1.**  
><strong>

Everyone knew that Past Karkat and Future Karkat were stupid nooksucking wrigglers who needed to realize just how depraved and moronic they truly were. Well, Karkat knew that, and he's the only one who matters, okay? So if he knows, then everyone should just accept it as fact.

It's a fact that the only intelligent Karkat is Present Karkat, okay? Good. Glad we're all on the same page.

What Karkat doesn't really like to think about, of course, is that he used to _be_ Past Karkat and will become Future Karkat at some point. He knows they're technically him, but they're clearly dumber versions of him. He also likes ignoring the fact that in about an hour he'll think that what he just said or did was the stupidest thing ever.

Being in a near-constant state of anger means that he will at some point always regret everything he has ever said or done. It's a fact of his life, and he embraces it fully. Anger and regret have been Karkat's favorite emotions ever since he was young and realized his status as a mutant. He's not going to give them up now, no matter how much trouble they always get him into. After all, he's always gotten _out_ of trouble eventually.

Every time he thinks it would be good to give up the anger someone says or does something that cuts deep enough to scar, and his only response can be anger. It's how he chose to be. No matter what Karkat tries, he always turns back to yelling and screaming.

He regrets that, too.


	6. Miraculous

**Author's Note:** This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.

**Prompt: **"I am not embarrassed to tell you that I believe in miracles."-Corazon Aquino**  
>Summary:<strong> He lives in a land of wonder.**  
>Character(s): <strong>Gamzee Makara**  
>Spoilers: <strong>None**  
><strong>

Gamzee sees miracles in everything.

He poisons his mind with sopor slime and Faygo, so other trolls assume he is an idiot who doesn't even know enough to know what to not consume. But they are wrong.

Gamzee is open to sights and sounds no other troll can ever grasp, so there is no one to tell him what they are. He names them miracles because he knows no other terms, and to him the word is accurate and sufficient.

He tells everyone he meets about miracles, and they brush him off time and time again. Still he persists. Some say it is the sopor slime that makes him so tractable, a disgusting state for one of his blood caste, but the truth is quite different. Gamzee knows with something deeper than conviction that he is right and so he knows no shame in sharing his beliefs. Quite the opposite, really.

Miracles aren't seen by the selfish.


End file.
